Things I LOVE <3

I wanted to make a more optimistic post and reflect on all the things I love! My list is in no particular order (because if it was, doggies would be number 1) it's just a general compilation of all things wonderful.

Coffee and tea are practically pastimes for me. I enjoy sitting down and reading or writing or doing a crossword with a cup of hot something. Generally, I like to start my day with coffee. My favorite is hazelnut. In the evenings I become a tea drinker. In my experience, the absolute best tea brand is Tazo. They know what's up. If I had to choose my favorite, I would say Egyptian Licorice. I hate black licorice, so don't let the name mislead you. It's comforting and smells like fall or the holiday season. You must try it!

New art supplies are amazing!

When you take off the plastic and open up a container of brand new colored pencils, you can see that there is nothing more beautiful than perfectly sharp, color-organized tools. I never like letting my pencils get out of color order, so I'm hard-pressed to ever lend them out. Prismacolor is known as the best art supplies brand and I definitely believe they're a great investment! I just enjoy looking at brilliant colors (who doesn't??) and it is kind of inspiring because I want to try them out and create something. Yes, new art supplies are lovely!

I love dogs. LOVE them. In fact, hold that thought, I'm going to make dogs their own post because there's just too much to say.

I'm not a pot head or anything, but I do love cannabis and absolutely think it should be legal. If my parents can relax and drink a bottle of wine in the evening, then why can I not smoke a bowl, listen to music and converse with friends to unwind? It's a plant. It's natural. It's enjoyable. Just don't let it make you lazy!

My favorite things to watch on TV are Food Network, Travel Channel, It's Me or the Dog/Animal Planet, Cash Cab, light teen shows like Drake and Josh and Comedy Central. I can't stomach reality television like I used to.

I like reading books that people recommend to me. Currently, I am about to begin East of Eden because it's Andrew's favorite book and he gave it to me for Christmas. My friend, Charles, generally has the best recommendations though. I like to read the paper, but I don't do it near enough and I am fearing it will soon be extinct!

California is gorgeous. If you have never been there, make it a point to go. And don't just visit beaches and L.A. Make it a week-long stay and see the whole state! I'm not kidding. Northern and southern California are two very different places, both amazing in their own way. You can do everything in this state, from skiing to surfing to hiking. You must at least see Yosemite, L.A., San Francisco (near me :)), Tahoe and Santa Cruz, but there is so much more than that. The weather is always agreeable, if not perfect. 

My favorite color is pink. I'm not a particularly girly girl, but the color makes me happy. So, my room at home is very pink. Pink curtains, pink bedding, pink walls and pink decorations. I adore my room and my big, pink, marshmallow-soft bed. My room in California is a little slice of my own heaven.

I really like driving. It is a constant bummer that I don't have a car in Missouri, but I have learned to embrace my daily walks to class and downtown. Mostly, I don't like that I can't go anywhere whenever I want. I miss the independence that driving allows for me. 

I am a little obsessed with Andy Samberg, if you haven't gathered that. I want to make babies with him. I enjoy his brand of humor more than any other and I am eagerly awaiting the album from Lonely Island! My favorite comedy is Hot Rod and I have watched it too many times to count. I'm sure I can quote most of the movie and I also have the soundtrack in my iTunes. 

All of these things put a smile on my face!

Kurt Vonnegut is a Genius

On the first day I travelled back from winter break, I read Slaughterhouse Five at the recommendations of a number of my friends. Needless to say, I couldn't put it down and I'm only sad I couldn't appreciate him when he was still alive a couple of years ago. Today I read his last book, A Man without A Country. It is a compilation of essays and artwork he's done in the past and his outlook on contemporary politics and Humanism. This book is by far the most quotable book I have perhaps ever read, but that's what I thought about Slaughterhouse Five. Anyways, I just wanted to share some of my very favorite quotes!

"If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."

"The truth is, we know so little about life, we don't really know what the good news is and what the bad news is."

"There are two ways of closing a manila envelope. I use both of them. First I lick the mucilage-it's kind of sexy. I put the little thin metal diddle through the hole-I never did know what they call them. Then I glue the flap down." (I like this one because of the mucilage line and the word "diddle")

"How beautiful is to get up and go out and do something. We are here on the Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different.

"THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC" (he wants that on his tombstone... I'm not sure if that happened though... I hope so)

"The guesser (in reference to a person in power who is smart but doesn't really know what whether he is right or not and certainly doesn't give a damn about the human life) revealed something else about themselves, too, which we should duly note today. They aren't really interested in saving lives. What matters to them is being listened to-as, however, ignorantly, their guessing goes on and on and on. If there's anything they hate, it's a wise human.

So be one anyway. Save our lives and your lives, too. Be honorable."

"'Welcome to Earth, young man,' I said. 'It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, Joe, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of: Goddamn it, Joe, you've got to be kind!'"

"He announced that the new high was banana peels taken rectally. So then the FBI scientists stuffed banana peels up their asses to find out if this was true or not. Or so we hoped."

"the excrement has hit the air-conditioning big time, big time"

"So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is'"

"And there, I've just used a semi-colon, which at the outset I told you never to use. It is to make a point that I did it. The point is: Rules only take us so far, even good rules."

So, I hope this encourages you to go out and read Mr. Vonnegut ASAP. This man was in his seventies and eighties when he wrote this stuff!

I'm back in Columbia freezing my tail off. F-ing A. 

My hair is all right, I'm still coming to terms with it but I can def rock it. This past week I've done jack shit, so there's not much to blog about EXCEPT that I built a fort with my friend Noelle and her boyfriend Chris. It is an amazing fort that takes up our whole living room, complete with sideways furniture and at least six sheets. I'm so proud. We even have a tunnel going to our Harry Potter room under the stairway. Also, we were able to include our TV and Chris's Wii, so we barricaded ourselves in there for about two days straight playing Wario Ware and MarioKart. BADASS!

Last night I went to the bar with my friends for the very first time! I went to McNally's with Noelle and Chris (even though Noelle is not of age, but they didn't card us oddly enough) and after a couple hours a bunch of our friends surprisingly showed up and we partied with them until some ungodly hour. It was baller because we were bored to death and it turned into a super fun night! 

Yeah, sorry about the lame blog, but that's what's up G.

Hair DIE!!!!!!!

I just dyed my hair... 

First of all, let me preface this by saying, I have dyed my hair a few times in the past, generally a reddish brown, and it's always cute as long as I dye evenly. Well, I haven't actually dyed my hair in about a year, but I thought about it at the end of summer and bought a box. Tonight while I was watching Pineapple Express (just came out today, wheeeeee) with my friend Ryan, I remembered the box of dye and was struck with the urge to use it! I was a little nervous because back when I bought it, I wanted RED hair (apparently), so I bought a redder dye. Usually it's something like this: http://www.garnierusa.com/_en/_us/our_products/products_haircolor.aspx?tpcode=OUR_PRODUCTS^PRD_HAIRCOLOR^NUTRISSE^NUTRISSE_DISCOVER&prdcode=P53001&varcode=245222

but this time, I got: http://www.garnierusa.com/_en/_us/our_products/products_haircolor.aspx?tpcode=OUR_PRODUCTS^PRD_HAIRCOLOR^NUTRISSE^NUTRISSE_DISCOVER&prdcode=P53001&varcode=242627

It's "true red" as opposed to reddish brown. 

I decided to do it anyways, since it's the only color I have, but I failed at making it even. I'm currently very concerned since I have yet to see it in all it's glory, but I really hope it fades gracefully or I'll have to do some kind of dark rinse. Bright Red=NOT OK!

Anyways, if it looks good, I'll perhaps post a picture later. In the meantime, I've left you with a large lady eating KFC with some wigged out red hair. Bon Apetit!

Greeting and Creed

Hi All!

I wanted to start this blog so I can begin keeping track of my life and thoughts on things I've done, so your typical blog I suppose. Hopefully I can keep up with this, so I'm making promises to the public in hopes that I keep them. Here they are:

I promise to update at least once a week, minimum once every two weeks

I promise to include at least one picture... to keep it interesting ;)

I promise to review either a book or movie at least once a month

I promise to keep it classy, sassy and timeless

With that being said, I should tell you a little about myself. My name's Brittany and I like to party (Hot Rod anyone... anyone?) I like music and dogs. I'm an Art major (I'll post some of my work later, but I really need to get a deviantart profile) with an emphasis in drawing and an aspiring English minor at the University of Missouri. I'm from the beautiful Bay Area in California. I know right, what am I doing in Missouri? I went there to be a Journalism major, but that was a bust and I love it too much to leave, so here I am. I only really miss the California  weather though. It's almost always sunny and enjoyable. 

As I mentioned before, I love dogs, perhaps too much. I have a Tibetan Terrier named Peaches (seen above in her Christmas collar) and I spent last summer working at two dog kennels, one of which I'm still employed seasonally. I'll need to post my list of top 6 dog breeds I want to own in my life. Also, I enjoy all kinds of music, including country and jazz, but am most familiar with alternative, indie and classics like Doors and Beatles. I'll give anything a listen though!

I think the only other pertinent fact you should know is that I LOVE ANDY SAMBERG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787475/